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COOPERATION NETWORK "EQUITY IN HEALTH"

Improving equity in health in Germany and supporting health promotion for the socially disadvantaged - those are the principal aims of the nationwide Cooperation Network "Equity in Health". As a group of currently 66 institutions and organisations in health promotion which is always based on the people’s socioeconomic status, the Cooperation Network creates the professional framework and supports exchange as the interface between practice, science and the political decision-making level. The Cooperation Network was established in 2003 on the initiative of the Federal Centre for Health Education (BZgA). The activities of the Cooperation Network focus on four key fields: health promotion in districts, for children, the unemployed, for refugees and the elderly. Since 2011, the municipal partner process “Health for all is our main activity.

A detailed description of the Cooperation Network is now available in English:

The aims of the Cooperation Network are:

To disseminate Good Practice in Germany - The experience gained in Good Practice projects, programmes and networks offers valuable ideas for the further development of social status-based health promotion.

To create transparency and make the diversity of practice more visible - All activities in the Network are presented centrally at www.gesundheitliche-chancengleichheit.de. The website contains comprehensive information on social status-based health promotion, references to events, and interactive offers of professional exchange. One essential element of the Internet platform is the nationwide practice database, where more than 2,100 projects, programmes and networks can be searched online.

To promote regional networking and the exchange of experience - With its Coordination Centres for Equity in Health, the Cooperation Network has an established structure in the Länder. The Centres support the transfer of information between the numerous players in their Federal Länder, as well as collaboration between the Federal and Länder levels. Not least, they also advance quality development in social status-based health promotion.

PARTNER PROCESS "HEALTH FOR ALL"

Municipal strategies for healthy living

Most boys and girls in Germany grow up healthily. However, 15 to 20 percent of children and young people have a poorer state of health, or at least a higher risk of becoming ill (Federal Ministry of Health [Ed.] [2010]: Nationales Gesundheitsziel. Gesund Aufwachsen:Lebenskompetenz, Bewegung, Ernährung. Berlin: 7). These children and young people particularly often live in difficult social conditions. Their environment often lacks stimuli and support for their development. This can have a negative impact on their current and future health from the moment of birth. Health problems due to poverty can accumulate in the course of a lifetime. Particularly serious in this respect is health damage already suffered in the womb or in early childhood (Dragano, N. [2007]: Gesundheitliche Ungleichheit im Lebenslauf, in: Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte 42/2007, p. 18-25.: 19ff).

The municipal partner process "Health for all" brings together municipalities that have set out to implement integrated municipal strategies for promoting the health of children and young people. It supports the health opportunities of socially disadvantaged people in cities, municipalities and rural districts by developing and implementing municipal health strategies.

Many partners gather experience when implementing the Recommendations for Action (download as PDF file), sharing it and using their findings to develop integrated health strategies in their own communities ("prevention chains") for reducing the socially-induced inequality of health opportunities of children and young people.

How does the partner process help?

Participation in a nationwide exchange between municipalities regarding the development of integrated municipal strategies

Professional supervision and qualification, e.g. by the Coordination Centres in the Federal Länder

Opportunity to present own activities in a manner attracting public attention